Nano Banana 2.1 Edit: change a photo and keep what matters
Nano Banana 2.1 Edit rewrites part of a photo from a sentence and keeps the rest, with many reference images at once. Four jobs it does well, one it does not.
Most edits fail the same way: you ask for a new jacket and get a new person. The whole point of Nano Banana 2.1 Edit is the opposite. Subject consistency is one of its stated strengths, so the face, the product or the room you upload is supposed to come back as itself, with only the part you named changed. It is the editing sibling of the text-to-image model in our Nano Banana 2.1 guide, and it shares its settings and its taste for clean design.
Rather than list features, here are the four jobs its examples show, with a prompt for each.
Job 1: a new outfit or setting, same person
Two of the examples on the model page start from a portrait and change only the clothes and the place. The prompt does two things: it says what changes, and it says, in plain words, what stays.
Change her outfit to a tailored navy blazer over a white shirt and move her to a bright modern office lobby. Keep her face, hair and pose unchanged.Job 2: a product in a new scene
Place this exact sneaker on a wet city sidewalk at night, neon shop signs reflected in the puddles, shallow depth of field, cinematic product shot. Keep the shoe design, colors and proportions unchanged.This is where it earns its place for shops: one clean packshot becomes a set of lifestyle pictures. Our product photography guide covers the scenes that sell.
Job 3: furnish or restyle a room
Furnish this empty room in Scandinavian style: a beige linen sofa, a light oak coffee table, a wool rug, a floor lamp and a few potted plants. Keep the walls, windows, floor and lighting unchanged.Job 4: combine several pictures into one
The images field takes more than a dozen pictures at once. That opens edits a single upload cannot do: a character from one photo in the room from another, or a logo from one file on the mug from a second. Refer to them by what they show, not by number, since a sentence like "the dog from the beach photo" is harder to misread.
Put the ceramic mug from the first photo on the wooden desk from the second photo, next to the laptop, in the same soft window light as the desk scene. Keep the mug's glaze, shape and handle unchanged.Settings and lifehacks
- Resolution has three steps and the smallest is the default. Get the edit right there, then run the winner once at a higher step; the Generate button shows the new price as you switch.
- Set the aspect ratio when the scene changes shape. Moving a portrait into a wide office lobby? Pick a wide ratio, or the model has to squeeze the new setting into the old frame. The list runs from square to very tall and very wide strips.
- Web search and image search (advanced, off by default) let it look things up while it edits. Useful when you ask for a real landmark or a current product in the background, pointless for a made-up scene.
- PNG or JPEG. PNG is the default and keeps edges crisp if you will edit again. JPEG is smaller for posting straight away.
- One change per run when precision matters. Outfit first, background second gives you a checkpoint you can keep if the second step goes wrong.
What it will not do well
It edits by repainting, not by masking. You cannot paint over a region and say "only here", so a tiny change in a busy picture (one earring, one word on a sign) can come back with neighbouring details slightly redrawn. Zoom in and compare before you publish. And it can only keep what it can see: a face in shadow or a product shot from a steep angle gives it less to hold on to. Start from the clearest photo you have, and edit only pictures you have the right to use.
Questions
How many images can Nano Banana 2.1 Edit take?
More than a dozen in one run. One is enough for a plain edit; several let you combine a subject, a product and a background.
Will it change the face in my photo?
Its strength is keeping the subject consistent, and saying "keep her face unchanged" helps. Always compare the result with the original before you use it.
What does an edit cost?
It is quoted for your settings, so the resolution step can change it. The price shows on the Generate button before you run, and a failed render is refunded.
